IC contact

[h2no]

Yo! Water you doin', you missed me! Bwhahahahaha! Leave a message and Archie'll get back to you when Archie deems the time to be right!

text / audio / video / action

Comments

[flightforfreedom]

[ The first question just gets a grunt, because even though Archie is right, that doesn't mean Poe has to like it.

There's a pause as he shuffles around with his comm, ]

East of Nonah, near the coast. Why?

[h2no]

Can you give me something more specific?

[he is definitely porting to nonah to fly there on crobat.]

[flightforfreedom]

[ Poe sighed. ]

Yeah. One second, need to land first.

[ There was the sounded of rushing wind and then a slight grunt and a thump, before he sent Archie his exact coordinates for a rocky strip of shoreline at the coast. ]

[h2no]

[speaking of wind, the sound of it is picking up on archie's end. he's much better at balancing on crobat as he flies! he tells crobat the location and off they goooo--]

Nice location, eh? Fancy a beach BBQ?

[he expects the answer is no, but whatever.]

[flightforfreedom]

Don't really think I'm up to eating much of anything, if I'm honest.

[ He would complain about Archie coming at all, but he can hear the wind and knows he's on his way, and-

Fuck, but he just needs a hug.

So he doesn't argue.

Instead he just sighs, and rolls up the carpet and sits down on the rocks while BB-8 makes a low woo noise behind him. ]

[h2no]

Got it.

[he's there not long after-- crobat pulls up in the air and archie jumps off in a move that's clearly practiced. he skids a little on the rocks, but gets his balance back pretty quicky.

poe sure does get a hug, but while archie is getting his balance it's crobat that swoops down and gathers the poor man up in his two big wings, chittering as he pulls poe against his giant fuzzy body. he's very warm and soft, and rubs his fuzzy cheeks against poe's.]

[flightforfreedom]

[ He doesn't resist whatsoever, wrapping his arms around the Pokemon and burying his face into its fur with a long, sad sigh.

He wasn't even in a good enough mood to tell Archie how good his landing was. He just clung to the giant bat. ]

[h2no]

[he wasn't looking for it, fortunately. poe and crobat have all of five seconds to themselves before archie joins the hug from poe's non-bat shrouded side. we group hug today bitch.]

[flightforfreedom]

[ The warmth of the hug was a distinct contract to the slight chill of fall coming off the ocean, and Poe let himself be swallowed in it.

He didn't say anything, didn't make a sound, but after a moment his shoulders started to shudder and Crobat's fur grew a little damp from where he had pressed his face into it. ]

[h2no]

[both archie and crobat recognise this. crobat coos a little, gently, like one might imagine he would to a baby zubat when it had fallen out the nest.

archie... does not coo, because he can't make that noise and it would be weird, but he tightens his grip on poe.]

'M sorry, [he says, after a few moments.]

[flightforfreedom]

[ He doesn't reply - he doesn't trust his voice - and after another moment he gets himself back under control. He pulls himself back out of the embrace, drawing a shakey breath as he scrubbed at his eyes with the heel of his palm. ]

... sorry. [ He mumbled it. ]

Thought I was over this bantha shit.

[h2no]

Don't be.

[crobat backs off a little to give poe some space, so does archie, though the big bat's wings are still arced near him.]

...It's better that you still care. Even with how much it hurts. When you stop caring, then you've lost something big.

[he gives poe's forearm a squeeze.]

C'mon. Sit.

[flightforfreedom]

[ He lets Archie tug him down and he slumps down on the rocks next to him and then slumps sideways onto the man's shoulder, letting out a long, sad breath. ]

I would settle for caring a little less. [ His voice was quiet. ]

... With my luck he'll be gone a month and then completely forget who I am. Or- or come back for a week and then disappear again for good. That seems to just - be the pattern of how it goes.

[h2no]

Me too, [he says, as he sits down, putting an arm around his shoulders and pulling him close and tight. the same way he did angela when she told him she wouldn't let herself be ported out and leave him behind... something he knew at the time was an empty promise. didn't stop it hurting, though. it's a promise he wants to make to poe, but doesn't, for the same reasons he didn't to angela. he could be gone this time next month. he could be gone in the next ten minutes.] Won't know until it happens.

[it's a lame answer, but he can't give a better one. there's no point giving false hope.

crobat shifts behind them, using his wings to block off any of the sharp coastal air.]

[flightforfreedom]

[ It would be an empty promise and one that Poe would suspect was just a way to tempt fate and then watch Archie disappear again.

He leaned his weight into Archie's shoulder. ]

I should never have built that stupid base. Why the hell did I think it was a good idea.

[h2no]

You couldn't have known.

[he doesn't say anything else, just thinks about how he should've left his own place and found a new one when matt was ported out. december and january combined left it with a lot of bad memories stuck in the walls.]

...If anything it's good to have imPort owned housing, for that independence... but I don't think doin' something good for your friends, even if they ain't here anymore, is ever a bad idea.

[he doesn't know if it's helping, but he still clings onto poe. like he's about to be ported out again.]

[flightforfreedom]

[ He doesn't mind. He needs it - too many people slipping through his fingers to think of them as solid. As real. So the physical reminder is a good one. ]

The orchard was the worst part. It's not going to fruit for years. The- the damn trees have been there longer now than he even was.

[h2no]

Matt's been gone longer than--

[he cuts himself off, shakes his head. he doesn't want to say it out loud, but... he gets it. he imagines seeing the trees finn wanted planted every day is an awful reminder of that horrible soul eating loneliness rather than something good. he feels much the same about matt's left over gym stuff he'd wanted to use and maxie's cat, though in the case of the cat he doesn't resent it for anything. he'll occasionally kick the gym equipment, stupid as it is.

frankly, he thinks poe is pretty strong just for the fact he hasn't had them all removed, even if he's wanted to. maybe they don't experience it the same way, but he knows how vicious the spiral can get.]

There's gonna be there long after all of us are gone, [he says, carefully.] That's what he wanted, right? Because they bare fruit? It was brave of you to finish it.

[maybe it's not fighting the enemy in a war, but it's powering through something that hurts in a very unique and horrible way.]

[flightforfreedom]

It wasn't brave. [ It's a firm correction. ]

It was his. He wanted it. Wanted a life, away from the war, and now I'm still here and he's back in it.

And now Bodhi-- [ His words cut off, choking in his own throat. He forced them through. ]

He just wants a life too. Hell, he's not even - if he goes home it's to nothing. He's dead back home. And yet here I am, the one still here. Every fucking time.

[h2no]

I-- sorry. [archie thought that maybe finishing the orchard would've been just as self-destructive as leaving it or removing it. he'd hoped maybe poe had done it for a good reason, rather than...

well, what's done is done. he gives poe a little squeeze, shifting to put his hand on poe's hair. he doesn't even know what to say, because poe's just... right. it feels like. he's right. archie doesn't say anything at all, he just holds onto poe. wishes it was different.]

[flightforfreedom]

[ Poe knows he's right, so the silence doesn't both him. What is there to say? It fucking sucks. The end. He can't do anything about it or fix it.

He lets out a breath like its the last from his lungs - long and drawn out - closing his eyes as Archie plays with his hair. It was exactly the amount of affection he needed so he just let it happen, without a word of complaint.

After a while, however, he murmurs: ] Just really thought I'd be over it. [ He knows he's already said it - he just couldn't stop thinking it. ]

[h2no]

[he doesn't say anything else, just stays looking out to the sea, feeling the familiar pull of exhaustion that this thing always brings. knowing that it's going to happen again and again. it also comes with a small amount of bitterness at the people who manage to float by without enduring a constant circus of loss.]

I'm staying at-- [maybe don't mention owain's place.] --a hotel. D'you wanna come back with me? Just so you're not alone.

[god he hopes poe would know that's not a proposition.]

[flightforfreedom]

Yeah. I don't want to go home.

[ He was tired of turning up in a home far emptier than it should have been. Kaytoo would be fine - he had Skeets. Poe didn't think he could face his empty apartment again.

He doesn't even think about sex, that's how depressed he is. ]

If that's okay.

[h2no]

[my god]

It's no trouble. Gives me an excuse to upgrade to a nicer room, if anything.

[...]

You know-- as long as I'm here, you don't gotta ask for this. I don't mind doing it whenever.

[flightforfreedom]

I don't like putting you out of your way.

[ Which is when something occurred to him-- ]

Why are you staying in a hotel anyway?